ERS conducts research on USDA's child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program, and After-School Snacks and Suppers.

The Food Dollar Series measures annual expenditures by U.S. consumers on domestically produced food and is composed of three primary series. Nominal (current year) and real data are now available from 1993 to 2016.

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In FY 2017, expenditures on USDA’s 15 domestic food and nutrition programs totaled $98.6 billion, 4 percent less than in the previous fiscal year and almost 10 percent less than the historical high of $109.2 billion set in FY 2013.

This report discusses February 2018 USDA forecasts for U.S. agricultural trade in FY2018. Exports are forecast at $139.5 billion in FY2018 and imports are expected to reach $118.5 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $21.0 billion.

The rural population is shrinking due to outmigration of young adults, fewer births, increased mortality among working-age adults, and an aging population. Rural job growth since 2011 has been well below the urban growth rate.

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March 15, 2018 3:00 PM

The Food Assistance Landscape: FY 2017 Report

This report uses preliminary data from USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service to examine trends in U.S. food and nutrition assistance programs through fiscal 2017. It also summarizes two recent ERS reports: one on trends in the prevalence and se...

March 14, 2018 3:00 PM

Sugar and Sweeteners Outlook: March 2018

The food dollar data series is composed of three primary series—the marketing bill series, the industry group series, and the primary factor series—that shed light on different aspects of the food supply chain. Nominal (current year) and re...

U.S. manufacturing employment has been declining since the 1950s. A better understanding of the factors affecting the survival of rural manufacturing plants may help develop strategies to retain these jobs.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has undergone economic, social, and demographic transformations over the past 10 to 15 years. Among the poorest regions in the world, it faces major political and economic challenges and low food security.

Schools in the Northeast are more likely to serve local foods every school day

In 2013, ERS and USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service collaborated on the first Farm to School Census to collect data from public school districts on the use of local foods in school meals. The information collected included how frequently local foods were served and which ones were served more often. Milk, fruit, and vegetables were the most frequently served locally-produced foods. ERS researchers found that, after controlling for other characteristics that vary across school districts, districts in the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic were 28 and 17 percentage points, respectively, more likely to serve local foods daily than those in the Southwest. School districts in cities were 11 percentage points more likely to serve local foods daily than districts in rural areas, and districts with 5,000 or more students were 9 percentage points more likely to do so than districts with less than 5,000 students. This chart appears in "School Districts in the Northeast Are Most Likely to Serve Local Foods on a Daily Basis" in the May 2017 issue of ERS’s Amber Waves magazine.